Facebook adds 5 new reactions to the like button

February 25, 2016

It's not a dislike button, but it's the next-best thing. Facebook has changed its "like" button to a range of emotion.

After testing the new options in some countries, Facebook is making the change official. It means that instead of just being able to like posts, users will be able to express several different feelings.

We’ve been listening to people and know that there should be more ways to easily and quickly express how something you see in News Feed makes you feel,” said Facebook Product Manager Sammi Krug.

Facebook has been struggling with how to represent more complex emotions ever since launching the “like” button in 2009. Many people will want to express sympathy with a status about a relationship breakup or family tragedy, for example, but not to approve of the event with the like button.

"Over time we hope to learn how the different Reactions should be weighted differently by News Feed to do a better job of showing everyone the stories they most want to see," Facebook said.